European Tour: Zurich & Lucerne, Switzerland

The program gave us the opportunity to not only take trips that were schedule and coordinated by the professors, but also an opportunity to take trips on our own.

Our first free weekend, we decided we wanted to stay around Switzerland and enjoy the sights of our own backyard. After morning class, we finished packing and then made our way to the train station. We hopped on a train that was destined for Zurich. Zurich is the capitol of Switzerland, population: 365, 098...big city stuff. It was about a 3 hour train ride, perfect napping time. So some people napped, some people played cards. I, of course, took pictures.

Monica, Trop, Brandon and Katie; Tamara and Jamie; Me and Kathryn on the train

We arrived in Zurich and made our way to our hotel. Which, I must say, I'm pretty proud we made it. Switzerland speaks 3 different languages: Italian in the South, French in the West and German in the North. We had just made our way from Italian territory into German territory. I will say, Italian came a little easier because it sounds a lot like Spanish (which I took for 7 years) but German is the easiest out of all the languages to read as it looks a lot like English (at least to me).

We found our  hotel, The Crazy Cow, and checked in. They took the "Cow" theme very literally. Our hotel room (which consisted of 3 beds) was decorated by murals of Cows and of course, a Beaver on a cell phone. Because what hotel would be complete without a Beaver on a cell phone. The shower curtain was also covered in cows, just in case you forgot you were staying at The Crazy Cow...they offered perfect little reminders.

After freshening up a bit, we decided to make our way down to the center of town where there was a festival going on. As with much of Europe, in Switzerland, there always seems to be some sort of festival. Not that we complained because there was beer and food readily available.

Group at the Festival

This is where I tried the HOTTEST thing I've ever had in my life. I blame it on the language barrier, but we went to a little shop to grab some food. There was a wrap (we all know how much I love my wraps), so I decided to be daring and try some. I thought my hair was going to catch fire because it was so hot. I fought with myself about "trying new things" especially from another culture, and the fact that I just spent money on the wrap (things are more expensive in big cities). I managed to choke down enough of it...the sad thing to top it off. There are no such things as "free" refills in Europe. You want a refill? That will be another 5 francs please. So not only did the bastards make me want to die, they also wouldn't provide me with anything to quench my thirst until I paid up.

On that note: I had been in Switzerland for approximately 10 days. And for those 10 days I had been deprived of Diet Pepsi, which at that time was my life-line. I didn't drink coffee, it was Diet Pepsi for my caffeine. But since it didn't exist, I stuck with Coca-Cola Light. Europe's version of Diet Coke, but definitely not the same as the US version of Diet Coke. So imagine my excitement when I found a Diet Pepsi. In fact, you don't even have to imagine it...there's a picture to document it.

The next day, a couple of us decided to take a tour of Zurich. Yes, a very touristy thing to do...but we were tourists. We started off in the famous Zurich train station. And then made our way through the city, stopping at the River to have a glass of water. Yes, the water was straight out of the river. No, we didn't die. Switzerland is known for it's clean water, they do weekly checks on their rivers and other bodies of water to make sure it's drinkable straight from the source.

Zurich Train Station

The crazy sculpture in the train station

The River

This is where the fact that I've waited over 3 years to write about this comes into play. I know we went and saw a mock-up of the city, and I know we went to the Clock Tower, St. Peter's Church and walked through the Medieval town. I know we went into the Zurich police station, which is famous for it's decor. And I definitely remember that we were more interested in the hot Swiss Policemen than the ceiling. And I have the pictures to prove it...but I can't remember the names of the places, I guess I should just be happy that I have the pictures.

Clock Tower; Police Station; Winston Churchill Speech Sight; St. Peter's Church

After our tour, we headed back to the hotel to rest, shower and change for dinner and then evening plans.  This is when I discovered that my iPod, which I had left in my bag in our hotel room was gone. I FREAKED out. We were in a hotel room, only people I knew had access to the room and they were with me all day. When I went to the front desk to ask them if they could ask their cleaning staff about it, they magically didn't speak English. Needless to say, I will NEVER stay @ the Crazy Cow in Zurich again.

Anyways, that night we went to eat at the restaurant that was connected to the Hotel. We then made our way to an Irish pub...cause that's where we always seem to end up. We topped off the night with a McDonald's run (have to love those Golden Arches, no matter what country) where we were requested to "Happy Birthday" to someone in English. And of course, we were happy to oblige.

The next day, the group parted ways in Zurich. Some people headed off to do fun outdoor adventure things and the rest of us headed to Lucerne. Some background on Lucerne, we were told that it was "the most beautiful city in the world." It was pretty, but I think the fact that it was rainy and yucky for the day and a half we were there really put a damper on our feelings about it. So I guess I'll have to go back another time and see if my theory is right :)

We're so original

Bottom of the castle

Once we got to Lucerne, we found our way to the hostel that we were staying in.  It ended up being a big room with lots of beds, so we took all our valuable stuff and made our way back into the city. We walked around, admiring the sights. We found a castle, and decided to trek up the stairs to get a good view of the city. After all, who doesn't love a good European castle. After the castle, we went to the old bridge that Lucerne is famous for. We then made our way to find dinner (food was a common theme in Europe). We ended up at a really good pizza place. After dinner, exhausted from all our walking that weekend, we decided to call it an early night. Plus, Lucerne is not known for it's bumping night life. The next day, we hopped back on a train and went back to Riva to start another school week.

Me, on top of the Castle

With the bridge in the background

Maybe it was the fact that it was rainy, or that we were already tired from traveling a lot that weekend. But my opinion is that Lucerne wasn't the "most beautiful city in the world." But like I said, I might have to try again and see what I think then ;)

To Be Continued...Next Up: European Tour: Paris